Coping with “Crazy”

I’ve been having an on-line debate with an Islamic Creationist today, and as you might expect, it’s the usual bat-shit crazy stuff.

After pointing out that 99.98% of scientists accept evolution as a well-established fact, you find such a reality does not in any way initiate any pause for thought, but instead results in statements such as, “which part of your body is not intelligently designed … waiting“. The obvious response … “None“, does not cause any pause, but instead results in an endless repetition of the exact same question again and again. After carefully responding several times, there comes a point where it is time to walk away. The gentleman (and I use that term very loosely) is quite clearly so crazy that even other kooks would be embarrassed to be associated with him, for he is so fixated with a belief that he is apparently unable to even understand that I have actually responded, so he just ignores the response and keeps repeating daft claims.

There is a lot of crazy out there, but the nature of things is that people can and should be free to believe whatever they wish, so when in a debate you will encounter folks who can actually debate and are capable of being engaged with. They raise the usual points, you respond and explain the problems, they then listen and come back with counter-arguments and so a good debate takes place. However, you will also encounter folks who are so steeped in a belief that they are incapable of any real debate, and so they simply ignore what you say and continue to parrot daft claims that you just debunked. For the former, I’m happy to debate, but for the latter, I tend to either leave them to it or perhaps deploy mockery and or satire.

There are of course times when there is a response to “crazy” that is so good, you just have to stand back and applaud. One fantastic example of this was the gay kiss at the Atheist convention in Melbourne a couple of days ago, the story is here …

Gay rights advocate Gregory Storer, along with his partner, took the opportunity to kiss in front of a group of Muslims who had also gathered to protest the conference.

“My partner Michael and I took advantage of the moment to kiss in front of the group,” Storer said in a statement.

“We understand that in some Islamic States gay people are persecuted and executed for their sexuality. It was an ideal opportunity to challenge the notion of acceptance and tolerance. As we began kissing, the Muslims began chanting, ‘Burn in hell’.”

You can also watch some slides of it here (somebody has taken photos and put them together into a slide show)

The fact that hate and bile bubbles to the surface when faced with the sight of two humans who love each other … that “burn in hell” stuff tells you all you really need to know about just how crazy they are.